Yilmaz, M. – Caruana, F.

2639 2023 · Draw

Yilmaz (2639) against Caruana (2782), 2023: a classical Queen’s Indian with 4.g3 Ba6, a locked centre, White rerouting the knight to f4 and doubling rooks on the g-file. Things turn concrete after 28...d4 and 29.e4, with the engine favouring Black. The hinge is 33.Rdg2, a missed opportunity: the evaluation swings from -1.5 to +1.9 from White’s side. The follow-up 34.Re6 fxe6 35.Bxe6+ leads into the Bf5+/Be6+ shuttle and a draw by repetition. Accuracy: 84% for White, 87% for Black. The takeaway: in double-edged positions like this, one natural-looking rook move can flip the verdict entirely.